Button Up Your Cup – new and improved

This is a favorite older pattern of mine. I used to make these cup cozies and sell them on Etsy, but had such a hard time keeping up with orders and I got so tired of making them over and over that I decided to share the pattern with others. This is a great way to get started with cables. It will demonstrate to you how easy cabling is and will give you lots of practice. When you’re done, it really is the cutest little cup cover ever!

Due to popular demand, I’ve revised the pattern to clarify the crochet assembly instructions. I hope it’s helpful to newer crocheters.

A cute little cabled mug cozy of my own design, this project requires both knitting and some simple crochet stitches to assemble the flat knit rectangle into a sleeve with a loop closure.

Although I’ve done mine in Lion Brand Cotton Ease, any worsted weight yarn will work. The pattern is knit from the top down and was designed with regular decreases along the length to fit a flared top cafe’ style mug. A great stashbuster and one of my favorite quick gift knits – it’s fun to personalize with unique buttons.

A Note on mug selection: The mug pictured in the pattern is a standard cafe flared top mug in a 10 oz. size, measuring 4″ high and 3.75″ across the top (3.25″ across the bottom). This pattern fits straight up and down mugs also when you leave out the decreases, but keep in mind that it will fit best on a mug with a handle that starts about an inch or so below the rim of the mug, so that you have space for your lips when sipping. You may also start and end the cozy with fewer rows in order to shorten it up if your cup is too short to allow sipping space.

Bind off purl stitches purlwise and knit stitches knitwise. You’ll want to decrease 2 stitches for each cable as you’re binding it off to prevent that area from being too loose. For each 6 stitch cable:(k1, bind off, k2tog, bind off)two times. Then continue to bind off other stitches as they present, (knitwise or purlwise). Pull yarn through last loop and pull tightly to knot. Leave 12″ tail of yarn.

Begin Crochet Assembly:

1. As shown in above photo, using tail of yarn, pull up a chain in last stitch.

2. Chain 1 and place stitch marker into chain, then with cables vertical, fold knit rectangle into a sleeve shape with both right side edges together at top. Slip stitch into first stitch on other side of sleeve.

3. Pull loop to the back of work. Turn and single crochet into chain with stitch marker, then slip stitch into first stitch on other side and fasten off. Repeat on other end of sleeve, so top and bottom are joined with a single crochet.

4. Position sleeve with cast on edge at top and join yarn for button loop by pulling yarn from back to front in a stitch along the right side of sleeve that is about 1/3rd of the way down the side.

5. single crochet 9 stitches along edge.

6. Chain 9. Create loop by slip stitching into first single crochet in row. Secure loop to sleeve by slip stitching into next stitch above on side of sleeve, and pull loop to back.

7. Single crochet in each chain.

8. Secure bottom of loop to side of sleeve by slip stitching in next stitch below on side of sleeve, then pull loop to back and fasten off.

9. Trim ends and weave in. Sew button to opposite side of loop and button up your cup!

Hi Lisa! So nice to hear from you. Hope all is well with you also! 🙂 I think I clarified the crochet instructions. From the feedback I received, I may have given too detailed of instructions, which was found to be confusing. Hopefully my simplifications helped.

Hi Jennifer!
The part of the pattern that is in the parentheses is subject to the instruction that comes right after it. So if you saw:P1, K1 (P2, K1, P6) to the last four stitches, P2, K2, this means that you’ll first do the P1, K1 then you’ll repeat the part in the parentheses until you get to the last four stitches, then do the P2,K2 that comes after.
I hope that makes sense!

Oh my goodness, thank you for your quick response — and sorry for my very rudimentary question!! Lovely pattern though, so thank you very much for this, and for helping me understand this!! You are so kind to publish this and to respond to questions here! 🙂

Goodness… I am such a dork! Okay, so I have more questions. In this instruction, I will say what I -think- the instructions are indicating, if this could be confirmed. Eek, I’m sorry I have so many questions!

Hi Jennifer! No, the P2 isn’t part of the C3F instruction. You can find the cable instruction at the top of the pattern under abbreviations. C3F = Put the next 3 stitches on a cable needle and hold to front. Knit next 3 stitches, then knit the 3 stitches on the cable needle. Hope this helps!

I love this pattern, but unfortunately I cannot understand the pattern.
What is P and K stand for? I am not a beginner in crocheting but I have never heard these terms. I would be thankful to you if you simply this pattern for me.

Love this pattern. Started it last night and am having a hard time with getting the stiches to equal out. The pattern says to cast on 47. The 1st row only has 45 stiches in it. Row 9 has 46 stiches with no increase but has P2 tog. I am not an experienced knitter do you have any tips for me?

Hi Tammy! The first row and every row after that up to the first decreases in row 9 should all have 47 stitches. (Are you maybe dropping stitches accidentally?) Row 9 begins decreasing with the P2 tog to make a sleeve that gets smaller at the bottom for a flared type cafe’ style mug. If you want a straight one, just ignore the decreases and purl those stitches seperately. Hope that helps. Let me know if I can clarify it any further.

Hi! Just wanted to say thank you for sharing this pattern. It was a quick knit and my first time to do cables. It’s so fun to see them appear as you get through the pattern. I am very excited to make a couple of these for friends. 🙂 My husband calls it a coffee mug sweater. 😀 And, when asked if he’d want one, he adamantly said “No!” The poor man just can’t seem to like knit stuff to save his life. 😀

Hi Tagil,
We ask that our free patterns not be published or translated on another blog, however, if you’d like to translate it, we’d be happy to publish the pattern on our blog and link to your blog for credit. If you’re interested in doing that just send us an email.

thanks so much for your generosity in sharing this lovely pattern. You really went the whole 9 yards with the helpful photos teaching the cable stitch and describing how it fits different mug measurements with slight alterations to the pattern. I wish all free patterns were this well written and photographed! Judy

Firstly, thank you for the pattern, it is lovely and a great gift idea for christmas! I am a beginner (this is only my second piece!) and I was doing fine until row 10. I have a straight mug so didn’t do the decreases in row 9, which means I have 47 stitches still, but the pattern for row 10 only has 45. What do I do with the 2 left? Thanks in advance!

Hi Alex! By now in the project you should be able to see the pattern of the piece, (How the cables pop on the purled background), so just continue the pattern and when it says to K1, you’ll continue to K2, (or p2 on the right side), just like you did earlier in the pattern.

Since every knitters gauge is different, Michelle, you can try smaller or larger needles to change the size a bit. If you don’t want them tighter at the bottom to fit a flared mug, just knit/purl each stitch separately throughout the pattern rather than doing the k2tog or p2tog.

I got up to the cable stitching and then, I wondered how they were going to be connected to the rest of the pattern. I am a pretty good knitter/crocheter/broomstick lacer/and I macrame’ pretty well. I have never attempted cable stitch, until today. It looks pretty easy, but I can’t wrap my brain around it. Please let me know or show me how to do this. I am making this for my mugs.

Do you have any tutorials (not the picture kind) that would help me finish the rest of the mug warmer? I got it bound off and the pictures are somewhat confusing. I am sure that it is easy. I just need a video or something.

Sorry Julie. This is sort of unique since I made it up myself, not from anything I’d seen in the past, so i don’t know of any existing videos. However, maybe it makes it easier to know that you’re simply making your flat piece of knitting into a sleeve by crocheting together with one stitch, (a chain then a single crochet) at the very top and at the very bottom. You’ll then put your attention to the right side. You’ll single crochet into the middle nine stitches, then make a chain that you’ll attach to the other side of your little line of crochet stitches. Finally, you just single crochet back into those chain stitches until you get to the other end. You now have a loop on the right side of your sleeve, and you’ll sew a button on the left side. This is just an overview. The pattern gives the details of exactly how you do it.

Thank you for the pattern, I have just made one as a Christmas present for my Mum and it is awaiting its button. This will be great for her as she loves gardening and this will keep her coffee a bit warmer when its chilly!

Hi Julie,
Great question! I’ve never tried it but I think it may look a little funny because it was meant to wrap around a mug so there is knitting above and below the button if that makes sense. We do, however, have a great pattern that works wonderfully with a paper starbucks cup. It’s the Pick-A-Pocket Cozy and here’s the direct link: http://www.simplynotable.com/2011/pick-a-pocket-cozies/

Thank you for the lovely pattern! I really want to make this and I just bought the yarn and button for it. But…I’ve never done Cable Knitting before so when you say “Cable Needle” what kind of needle does that look like? When I search Amazon I get a lot of different options, some look like J’s, some look like hooks, some look like squiggly lines, and it looks like there’s different sizes of each as well. Could you help me narrow down which kind I need to get for this project? A link to something on Amazon would be great.

Sorry if this is really obvious, I’m just new to doing Cable Knitting and not sure, thanks for your help!

Hi Sarah! You can use either option – the hook or squiggly line. Sometimes I even use a bamboo double pointed needle! Basicly, you just need something to slip a couple of stitches onto while you knit the stitches behind them. The size doesn’t matter too much. When i was just learning cables, I found the hook easiest to use, if that helps. I hope you enjoy knitting the Button Up Your Cup pattern! 🙂 I’ve made so many of them and they’re always a popular gift! Happy Knitting, my friend! 🙂

Hi, I love the pattern but when it comes to the crotchet section I draw a huge blank. I know the basic crochet stitches but I’m confused about the part that says “pull loop to the back of the work”. I just can’t seem to get that to come out right so maybe I am doing it wrong. Could you possibly clear this up for me?

Sure! I just mean to take your hook out of the existing loop, insert your hook from back of work to front of work in a stitch beside that loop, put the hook through it and pull it to the back of the item. Does that make sense?

Hi Shirley! I’ve never made one any other way other than the way I wrote the pattern – with a crocheted finish. But other knitters have done all kinds of things, an icord closure, seaming with the yarn ends, etc. You can check out some of the fun modifications in the Ravelry projects. There’s 12 pages of them! 🙂

Love this cozy! Thanks so much for sharing your pattern. I made one and used a smaller DPN (as I usually have to do to get gauge) but it didn’t fit. So I’ve frogged it to row 15. Going to do that part over with larger needle (and probably omit last decreases). Guess I’ll count the first try as my gauge “swatch”, lol. Doing mine in red and going to look for a big heart button for Valentine’s day. Thanks again for sharing!

I love the pattern. Made it to fit my straight sided mug. I actually used it in a photo on my blog The Chicken Grandma. (Post Blizzards, Baking & Bible Study) I put a link to this site so others can see how it is made. Thank you for sharing!

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